Lingering rain and elbow stiffness

The game start time has been pushed back briefly here because of a little rain, but the radar indicates that things should clear up soon. This won't be a major delay. No start time has been indicated, but I'd guess this should begin around 2 p.m. CT.

In the meantime, I'll fill you in on Austin Kearns, who's out of the lineup today.

Evidently, the elbow surgery Kearns had at the end of May has left the right fielder battling some residual soreness, something he has to attend to every day. He's generally OK when given a full day to recover between night games, but the night-to-day transition is tough. Kearns' elbow is just feeling too stiff to start today.

Today, before the game, Manny Acta even hinted that the lingering elbow stiffness is holding Kearns back at the plate:

"I do (think so)," Acta said. "He's not going to say anything, and he's a very proud man and doesn't want to give into any excuses and all that, but still -- it's not 100 percent.

"We're just going to have to monitor him, because he won't say anything and he'll play through pain. We appreciate all that, but we know the day after a night game sometimes he takes a little bit longer to get it going, because of the recovery time."

OK... I know neither are what you'd consider must haves in the nAAAAts current lineup but don't you have to think that 2/5 with a key 2-out RBI and 1/3 with a GW RBI net Hernandez and (yes... flame away) Kearns opportunities to start the next day? Far be it from me to question MActa but that seems like the kind positive energy you want to see catch on. I'm just saying it seems odd for position players who are neither advancing in age or catching to make meaningful contributions one night then be sat down to rest the following day.

To What the @#!?: Well, Chico explained Kearns, but there's no reason that Hernandez shouldn't keep the gig while he's hitting. That should be what they teach the guys; you play well, you start. You don't, you sit.

And I'm so sick of hearing of players playing hurt and not mentioning it. Like it's better to suck and hurt the team and have the manager try to guess what's wrong.

Jon Heyman of SI.com had a little piece on Jim Bowden today -- despite the story headline ("Nats GM in trouble"), it sounds like the right people (ie: the Lerners) still have his back. He's like Rasputin.

More interesting, though, is the bit about Stan Kasten hating his job.

1. Although it is unfair, the persistence of the stereotype of Washington as a bad baseball town is potentially damaging to the franchise and can become a self-fulfilling prophecy if local people, and potential players, believe the franchise has no future. I am a believer in "the plan," but there is a growing urgency to seeing it executed more competently and more quickly. Certainly four years into it, we did not expect the worst team in the Major Leagues.

2. The assertion that is little better off than in Montreal is unsupportable either based on attendance or revenue.

3. The fact that the Nationals are slow-paying suggests one or more of the following: (1)cash flow problems, which are unlikely; (2) administrative disarray, which the experience of season ticket holders suggests is likely; and (3) a deliberate cash-management strategy, which is consistent with stories one reads about the hardball business practices of the Lerners. If the image the franchise wants to present to the public is that of a skinflint landlord that counts the paper clips, files suit at the drop of a hat, and bites the hand that feeds it (DC taxpayers), they're doing a great job.

I don't necessarily blame the Nationals for the Crow debacle, and I don't believe DC is a bad baseball town. To the contrary, I think it can be a really good baseball town -- after all, the Nationals drew 2.7 million to RFK in 2005. But it takes a contender, and I am among the many people who are quickly losing confidence in Bowden, Kasten, and the Lerners to provide one.

Ordinary DC taxpayers, e.g. income tax payers, aren't feeding the Nationals one red cent unless they are buying tickets and concessions at the ballpark themselves and thus paying the taxes thereon. DC businesses of a certain size are subject to the gross receipts tax that helps to fund the ballpark, but you know what? Lerner Enterprises itself does business in DC and is probably paying the gross receipts tax too.

Your point being writes: "aren't feeding the Nationals one red cent unless they are buying tickets and concessions at the ballpark themselves and thus paying the taxes thereon"

This is not correct. DC is liable for repayment of the stadium debt whether or not revenue from the gross receipts tax or baseball-related revenue streams is sufficient. If the team continues along its current path, it is more than likely a shortfall in those revenues will need to be covered by the city's general revenues.

In addition, the indebtedness severely limits the District's ability to borrow funds for public purposes, a point recently made with some urgency by the District's Chief Financial Officer, Natwar Gandhi.

Finally, to the extent the Lerners are refusing to pay rent that they owe even while the stadium generates revenue, and additionally demand excessive penalties from the District on dubious grounds, they are most certainly biting the hand that feeds it.

Dave Jageler and Charlie Slowes could do a fantastic radio show if the Nationals and the guys could somehow work it out. Today they seem to make it clear that from October to March they are home and not working but I wonder how much it would take to keep them in town? The Nationals are missing an opportunity by not having an off-season or even a lead-in show to the games with these two as hosts. This new plan of moving Federal News Radio to 1500 and 820AM will fail very quickly and that would be the time to think of it.